President Michael Sata yesterday disagreed with St.
Ignatius assistant parish priest, Fr Charles Chilinda when the latter asked him
to forgive his predecessor Rupiah Banda for the wrongs he may have committed
during his reign.

Responding to Fr Chilinda's plea, President Sata said
what the priest was saying meant that the government should not fight
corruption. In his sermon, whose theme was about reconciliation, Fr Chilinda
said he was puzzled that whenever someone won a presidential election, they
prosecuted their predecessor.

He said it was good that President
Sata was Catholic, and that as a Catholic he should listen and be remembered as
a good leader.

"And I hope that President Sata is listening, and I ask
President Sata to set a precedent by forgiving his predecessor despite the
differences they had," Fr Chilinda said.

"Kaunda baliisa munyankula,
Chiluba nao aisa nyankula Kaunda, Mwanawasa nao aisa nyankula Chiluba.
(Kaunda was defeated in an election, then Chiluba persecuted Kaunda, Mwanawasa
also persecuted Chiluba); the only person who was not persecuted was Mwanawasa
who was 'saved' by death."

Fr Chilinda said the trend had been that now
that elections were over, it was not time to fix opponents.

"And in
elections, there is a winner and a loser, it doesn't mean that the winner should
fix the loser," he said.

At that point, President Sata raised his hand,
but Fr Chilinda continued with the sermon and asked the congregation if it was
okay for President Sata to prosecute Banda, to which the congregation responded
in the negative.

Then Fr Chilinda walked towards President Sata who then
said to the congregation that: "What Fr Chilinda is saying is that we should not
fight corruption. Nomba nga baliba ninshi kubelela? (If people stole,
should they be forgiven? Ine nalilandile ati (I had said that) the
governing of this country will be based on the Ten Commandments," President Sata
said, amidst ululations and applauds from the congregants.

But Fr
Chilinda contradicted himself when he later said the fight against corruption
should be everyone's commitment.